Important Dates

ancelled
Due to Snow - Rescheduled on 2/24/15 same room with Training
Session to follow)

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
HS 109 Classroom

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
PH 362 Classroom

Training Sessions - SBDC J.
Hickman

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
TE 151 Classroom

Tuesday, February 17, 2015(C

ancelled
Due to Snow)

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
FH 132 Classroom

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 (This will be
a combo Information Session/Training to make up for snow
cancellation)

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
HS 109 Classroom

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
PH 362 Classroom

Online Submission Opens (March 6th @ 8am - through April 20 at
11:59 pm): Submission link on Competition Forms & Links
PageThis is a four part submission:
1. Profile: contact information & group members(please fill out this section asap
so we can get an idea of number of participants for set-up)
2. Business Plan Submission - approx. 700 words/section or 5000
words total for all sections.
3. Supplemental Uploads 3MB Maximum
4. Poster Upload - 10MB Maximum

This can be filled out at any time and updated until April 20, 2015
at 11:59 pm.
Good Luck to everyone!

Coaching Sessions TBA.These will be on a first come first served basis or you
can contact professor Burke at
wpburke@salisbury.edu
to set up another time if you can not make it.

Competition - May 8, 2015 in Perdue Hall.

News

2014 Perdue Entrepreneurship Competitions Award Nearly $60K

Last year, management major Nick Simpson
earned $3,000 in the Franklin P. Perdue School
of Business’ Entrepreneurship Competitions when
he premiered Bounce, an app designed to connect
nightlife businesses and consumers.

But
that wasn’t good enough. Simpson wanted to win
the grand prize, the $10,000 Bernstein Award, to
support the venture.

So the Ellicott City native and his business
partner, Ryan Nuzum, a West Virginia University
graduate, worked for the past year to improve
their plans.

The efforts paid off. They won some $15,600
in cash and consulting services during SU’s 2014
Entrepreneurship Competitions.

“We weren’t just in it for the contest; we
really cared about the judges’ feedback,” said
Simpson, now a senior. “The advice you get is so
valuable, and we already have about five
follow-up meetings planned with contacts we
made.”

He said the Bounce team, which also includes
SU students Laura Thornburg and Nick Giambra,
and Allen Butler of Longwood University, hopes
to continue working on app development and
programming over the summer and then move into
beta testing.

SU alumnus Kevin Bernstein ’92, vice president
of strategy at LWRC International in Cambridge,
was one of three judges for the Bernstein Award,
the portion of the competition that for more
than a quarter century has been supported by his
father, Richard, a 1976 SU graduate and the
founder of companies including K&L Microwave,
Inc. in Salisbury.

“When my father started his businesses, he
didn’t have this kind of program and this kind
of opportunity to be mentored,” Bernstein said.
“You have to leverage this environment ... and
take chances.”

“What I saw is focus,” said judge Mike
Cottingham, president/CEO of Rommel Holdings.
“You were poised; you were polished. You
explained why SU is a rising university and the
Perdue School is a rising business school.”

The
day started with an “Invest in My Idea” poster
session in Perdue Hall’s Atrium and first floor.
After review by some 29 judges, 15 teams
advanced, earning $600 each and a spot in the
second round “Gull Cage.” This Shark Tank-style
event involved one-minute pitches, followed by
four minutes of rapid-fire questions from
judges.

Senior management major Jason Rogewitz of
Salisbury called the experience “nerve
wracking,” adding, “it’s fast; the clock is
ticking.” His UrBowl pasta shop business partner
Chris Himberger, a sophomore accounting/finance
major from Bethpage, NY, said: “You want to
answer questions effectively, but at the same
time you want to answer as many questions as
possible.”

All
Gull Cage prizes again were provided by
supporter Warren Citrin, co-founder of Solipsys,
Gloto, Redox Power Systems and fractograf.

First place and $4,000 went to Bounce, while
second place and $3,000 went to FedXmas, a
Christmas tree delivery service proposed by
another returner, Brendan Guihen, a junior
communication arts major from Silver Spring,
along with Imoleayo Alabi, a junior finance
major from Salisbury. UrBowl earned third place
and $2,000; fourth place and $1,000 went to Werk,
LLC, a part-time job website proposed by
freshmen Aaron Wall, Kyle Cooper, Peter Baum and
Matthew Lange.

These four Gull Cage winners then moved on to
present their full business plans during the
afternoon Bernstein competition.

Judge Steve Evans, CEO of Allen Harim Foods,
apologized to all the competitors for asking
some of the tough questions they faced, but, he
emphasized, that’s how “you get better.” He
added: “We are extremely impressed. You get a
lot of real experience here and that’s what you
need.”

Several special awards were distributed at
the event, including two new $5,000 “best
product” prizes provided by Bob Livingston of
Dover Corporation and Dave Howett of K&L
Microwave. Presented after the poster
competition, they went to a glass company
proposed by Phillip Valencia, a senior
management major from Salisbury, and Chesapeake
BIOFuel, created by Lori Defnet, a senior
accounting major from Poolesville, with Richard
Baldwin, a senior management major from Berlin.
Defnet and Baldwin also earned $3,000 in
services from Mark Leisher Productions.

The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce and
Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development also
awarded $5,000 in services including consulting
and rent-free space to ADarchy, LLC, proposed by
Jonathan Pilchard, a senior accounting major
from Salisbury and his business partner, Trey
Mullady.

The Werk team, as the second place Bernstein
Award winner, also earned $1,500 cash and an
additional $3,500 in consulting from Maryland
Capital Enterprises, as well as a membership to
hotDesks.org, the Eastern Shore’s first
co-working space, from the Eastern Shore
Entrepreneurship Center (ESEC).

Competition
judges included many SU graduates, past winners
and Perdue School Executive Advisory Council
members who are successful entrepreneurs and
executives at regional and national companies
and organizations.

They also represented some of the event’s
sponsors, which at the Gold level included Bank
of America, Burbage Properties, Inc., ESEC,
First Shore Federal, Gillis Gilkerson Inc.,
Layton’s Chance Vineyard & Winery, Leverage
Mobile, Sherwood of Salisbury, TEDCO and Yard
Designs, Inc. Silver sponsors were Pohanka of
Salisbury and Comprehensive Financial Solutions;
bronze sponsors were Chesapeake Utilities and
the Strategic Wealth Management Group.